There is one match left in the first weekend of Premier League action after the international break and it comes along in the Monday Night Football where Everton play host to Burnley in what should be a competitive match.
Everton have made a fine start to the season under Rafael Benitez and will be aiming to build on that here while Burnley haven’t had the beginning to their campaign that they would have wanted so this feels like a big game for them.
Where to watch
The match will be shown in full on the Monday Night Football programme which is on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League. The show begins at 7pm and kick off at Goodison Park is at 8pm.
Everton
I guess Everton needed a fast start this season after the controversial decision to bring Rafael Benitez in as manager. They have had that so all the potential negative talk about that decision can be laid to rest. The other concern that comes along here is their home form last season was terrible and although they have already picked up a win at Goodison Park this term, it takes more than one win to put the memories of the previous campaign to bed.
To be fair to Benitez, it shouldn’t take a lot for him to turn Goodison into something of a fortress. He has signed some good attacking wide players who can stretch the play horizontally or vertically to give the rest of the Everton side space to work, which perhaps they didn’t have last season when James Rodriguez and Gylfi Sigurdsson were being used in the wider areas. With seven points from three matches, Everton could go into the top four with a win here.
Burnley
It probably doesn’t come as a huge surprise that Burnley have made a slow start to the season. It seems like we are referencing this every season so at least while they wouldn’t want to be in this position as often as they are, they do have experience of being in this situation to fall back on so you wouldn’t expect panic to set in. With just one win from three matches they could do with a victory sooner rather than later though.
That point did come in their last match and it was interesting that in the final days of the transfer window Burnley recruited a couple of attacking full-backs so perhaps they are about to undergo a bit of a transition in style and look to take the game to opponents a little more. Getting players out wide and pinging balls in to the likes of Chris Wood is probably going to be their best chance of success. It will be interesting to see if that takes away from their defensive strengths.
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Team News
Everton boss Rafael Benitez could give a debut to his deadline day signing Salomon Rondon although it might be that he begins on the bench because Richarlison is available now. Seamus Coleman is also expected to be available.
Burnley could also hand a debut out in this match. Maxwel Cornet is in line to start for the first time since his move last month. Fellow last-minute signing Connor Roberts is now yet up to match speed so he will have to wait for his debut.
Betting
Burnley might improve over the next couple of weeks when they transition into this better attacking unit, if indeed that is the path they are going to go down. I don’t see them getting anything from this match though. What I like about Everton this season is there is more athleticism in their forward areas and against a team who might sit in here that can be a real benefit. Clearly there isn’t going to be a lot of room in behind but Everton can hurt teams in different ways which is a positive.
The other thing I like about Everton is there seems to be a good resilience about them these days which perhaps they wasn’t last season. They have a real attacking intent about them too, although you would expect that from a side that has the likes of Richarlison, Demarai Gray and Dominic Calvert-Lewin in it. I think the home side are getting Burnley at the right time here and as such I’ll take them to win and cover the Asian line.
Tips
Back Everton (-0.75AH) to beat Burnley for a 3/10 stake at 1.87 with Bet365
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